It was another one of those moments when I looked at our colleagues' fact checks. My eyes caught on a particular headline: too little active ingredient.
“Raspberries as a painkiller replacement? “Unworldly suggestion”. This is a check that our colleagues at dpa published. I mean, I've probably wondered why there aren't any raspberries in the supermarket lately. Or why my grandma suddenly stopped having knee pain after eating raspberry cake.
Whatever. Maybe there is no connection at all. The colleagues at the dpa have described this very clearly. In their fact check, they address a shareable that makes a nonsensical claim. Including problematic description:
Raspberries are up to 3x more effective against headaches than aspirin. The B vitamins, which fight inflammation, are responsible for this.
Health Facts. To make matters worse, this is under the shareable. The only people who have provided facts about this nonsense are the editors of the dpa. They have also archived this nonsense for posterity (see here ). And they explain why this claim is scientifically untenable (here is the fact check ).
10 kg of raspberries is equivalent to one aspirin tablet
I had to smile when I read the fact check on this topic.
The result: The amount of salicylic acid, the pain-relieving substance that is also contained in raspberries, is low. In one example, the fact check says that you would have to eat 10 kg of raspberries in order to absorb approximately the amount of salicylic acid contained in an Aspirin 500. OMG! Imagine that the morning after a night of drinking there is a bucket with 10 kg of raspberries next to your bed. This doesn't end well. No, that doesn't end well. I don't want to just gain weight on an ad hoc basis.
But let's leave that behind. Let's briefly come to the conclusion of the dpa colleagues. They finally let Daniel Pöpping from the University Hospital of Münster have his say. Pöpping is a specialist in this field and says: “This is fake news, as far as I can tell.”
The problem of distance from science
The longing for simple solutions. The hope for the sweet magic elixir. The rejection of complex connections. Is it the stars or the water veins that determine my life? Then the solution would be so simple.
Belief in raspberries is also a form of scientific denial. This example shows how great the desire for “alternative medicine” can be. And when a shareable appears that goes viral on social media, such a belief manifests itself.
And then it becomes problematic, especially when science is questioned or even described as faith. The overemphasis on so-called “common sense” (common sense) over science is also problematic, especially when this overemphasis is repeated like a mantra in politics.
Science is the systematic and rational search for knowledge. It covers the areas of natural sciences, social sciences and technical sciences. Scientists attempt to understand the natural and human environment by testing various theories and hypotheses for accuracy.
Science is not a faith or a substitute religion. She is also often accused of this. But science is the constant struggle for more knowledge. Solving problems. Science can and wants to revise itself if it recognizes an error. These are also important properties. Very important ones actually! Positive error culture instead of flat populism.
So: Even if you perhaps demonize “Big Pharma”. Eating 10kg of raspberries to get any (if any) pain relieving effect is complete nonsense.
Review: The dpa fact check on this topic
This might also be of interest : Zelensky did not talk about the deployment of US troops in Ukraine
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